Fuel economizer



| s. TROY FUEL .ECONOMIZER June 12, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 12, 1948 lllllllllll/I/l/l l/l/l/l/I/ll/ l Ill //l l/l/l Inventor Fig.3.

Leonard S. Troy Ame | s. TROY- FUEL ECONOMIZER June 12, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 12, 1948 Leonard 5. Troy Patented June 12, 1951 UNITED STATES PTENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

" 'This invention comprises novel and useful improvements in a fuel economizer, and more specifically pertains to a valve for automatically cutting off the supply of fuel mixture by-passing the throttle in its closed position to the idling jet a fuel economizer as set forth in the preceding object which shall be of simple construction, de-

pendable in operation and may be easily installed in conventional and existing internal combustion engines without necessitating appreciable changes in the structure thereof.

- These, together with various ancillary features and objects of the invention which will later become apparent as the following description proceeds, are attained by this device, a preferred embodiment of which has been illustrated by way of example only in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a portion of an intake manifold, carburetor and fuel mixture conduits extending between the carburetor and manifold and showing the present invention applied thereto;

Figure 2 is an end elevational view of Figure 1, parts being broken away and parts being shown in section therein;

Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view taken upon an enlarged scale substantially from the plane of the section line 3--3 of Figure 2, alternative positions of the parts being indicated therein in dotted lines;

Figure 4 is a top plan View of the arrangement shown in Figure 3; and,

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially from the plane of the section line 55 of Figure 3.

Referring now more specifically to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals designate similar parts throughout the various views,'

there is indicated at In a portion of an intake manifold of any suitable type of internal combustion engine, not shown, it bein understood the principles of the invention are applicable to any and all types of internal combustion engines which are provided with carburetors for supplying a carbureted mixture to an intake manifold, and which are further provided with an idling passage which by-passes the throttle valve of such an engine for supplying fuel to an idling jet to enable the engine to idle but with the throttle in its closed position.

A carburetor l2 of any known type is secured by means of fastening bolts l4 and a flange It to the upper section I 8 which by means of a lower flange 20 is secured to the upper flange 22 of a lower section 24, whose lower flange 26 is secured detachably to a fastening flange 28 carried by the intake manifold Ill.

The upper and lower sections l8 and 24in conventional engines may be secured together, or in some instances may be composed of a single integral member, in either event, this member or sections comprises a fuel mixing conduit for supplying a carbureted mixture from the carburetor I2 to the interior of the intake manifold ID, from whence the carbureted mixture is fed to the interior of the internal combustion engine in a known manner.

In accordance with the principles of this invention, the fuel mixture conduit, if of integral onepiece construction is removed and the two-section construction is substituted therefor; while if the two-section construction is employed the latter are separated between the flanges 20 and 22 for the insertion of an attachment indicated generally by the numeral 30 to be hereinafter described.

It should be further noted as will be apparent from Figure 3, that the lower section 24 of the two-section construction of fuel mixture conduit, or the lower portion if a single member is employed, is provided with a throttle valve 32 of the well-known butterfly type, whose position thus throttles or regulates the passage of combustible mixture from the carburetor into the intake manifold E9. The sections I8 and 24 are 'the lower end of he passage 36 is provided with a discharge port 40 which is controlled by a needle valve 42 which is manually adjustable to regulate the flow of fuel through the idling jet passages. The discharge port 46 and the needle valve 42 thus constitute an idling passage jet of a conventional and known design for supplying a sufficient quantity of fuel around the closed throttle valve to enable the engine to continue running at a low speed when the throttle valve is closed.

In order to apply the principles of this invention the two sections 18 and 24 customarily joined together at their flanges 20 and 22, are separated to permit the member 36 to be interposed therebetween, th flanges 20 and 22 being then secured to the member 36 as by fastening bolts 46. Of course, if the engine is provided with a one-piece conduit in place of the two sections l8 and 24, this one-piece conduit is removed and the two sections together with the insert member 36 are substituted therefor.

The member 36 comprises a pair of parallel plates 46 and 48 respectively, which are secured together as by the fastening bolt 44 above-mentioned and by further fastening means 50. These plates are provided with registering apertures 52 and 54 which in turn register with th fuel mixture passages in the sections l8 and 24, to thus form a continuous fuel passageway to the intake manifold. The sections 46 and 46 are provided respectively with laterally extending inlet and outlet passageways 56 and 58 respectively which terminate in inlet and outlet ports 66 and 62 respectively, which are adapted to register with the ends of the passages 34 and 36,

Transversely extending, registering bores indicated generally at 64 connect the inlet and outlet passages 56 and 58 and thus establish a continuous idling jet passage by means of the passageways 34, 56, bore 64, passages 58 and 36, whereby the idling jet mixture, under an automatic control to be now described, is enabled to by-pass the throttle valve.

This automatic control valve for the idling jet passage consists of a rod or plunger 66 which is reciprocabl received in the bore 64, and has its lower end engageable in a guide bore or recess 68 formed in a boss 16 in the member 48; the intermediat portion of the valve member 66 being provided with a longitudinally extending notch or passage 12 which is adapted to selectively establish communication between passages 56 and 58 or look such registration as set forth hereinafter.

The end of the passage 56 is provided with an enlarged chamber or recess 14 which opens to the upper surface of the member 46, and which registers with a complementary chamber or recess 15 formed in a cover or closure member 86 which is secured as by bolts 82 to the member 46. A diaphragm 84 of any suitable material is clamped between the adjacent surfaces of the cover 80 and of the member 46, this diaphragm being of suitable flexible material for flexing or bending movement in the two chambers. The upper end of the valve member 66 is secured in any desired manner to the diaphragm 84 for movement thereby. Extending upwardly from the cover 86 is a tubular sleeve on casing member 86 which is closed at its upper end as by a screwthreaded lug 68, and which receives a compression spring 60 therein, this spring bearing downwardly upon the diaphragm in order to urge the valve into its lowermost position, which is limited by the bottom end of the valve engaging the bottom portion of the bore 68, and in which lowermost position the port 12 is in registry with both of the passages 56 and 58.

It will 'be thus seen that owing to the spring pressure of 90, which may be regulated and adjusted by the screw-threaded plug 88, the valve is yieldingly urged into its open position, whereby th idling jet mixture may freely flow through the passage arrangement above described to the idling jet.

A conduit 92 of any suitable construction has its lower end in communication with the interior of the chamber 16, above the diaphragm 84, while the other end of this conduit is connected in any desired manner, not shown, to the intake manifold [6 whereby the suction prevailing in the latter is applied to the upper surface of the diaphragm.

It will thus be seen that when the suction supplied through the conduit 92 is suiiicient to overcome the force which is applied by the adjustable spring 90, the diaphragm is moved upwardly from the position shown in Figure '3, thereby raising the valve 66 to its upward position and causing the passage 12 to move out of registry with the two passages 56 and 58, whereby the flow of fuel therethrough is locked or stopped.

It is contemplated that the spring 96 may be so adjusted that the valve is permitted to remain in registry with the passages during all normal engine operation and all normal suctions prevailing in the intake manifold throughout the range of engine operation. However, when an abnormal suction prevails, which is materially greater than the normal operating suction of an engine mani fold, the diaphragm is raised to cut off the sup.- ply of fuel.

It should be here noted that the operation of this invention is predicated upon and depends for its success upon the fact that when a vehicle is coasting, and the engine is in gear and is driven by the vehicle, that the intake manifold ressure is at its lowest value, that is the manifold vacuum is at its greatest value, materially beyond the pressures prevailing during normal engine operation. The spring is so set and adjusted that under these extreme manifold pressure conditions arising from the engine being employed as a brake when the vehicle is coasting, that the valve will be shut off to stop the flow of fuel through the idling jet, thereby preventing this common source of wasting of fuel as well as the undesirable effects of this fuel under those conditions, these undesirable effects of the fuel being well-known and comprising among others, the dilution of the lubricating medium by the unwanted fuel, the lessening of the effective braking action of the engine and the like.

From the foregoing it is felt that the construction and operation of the invention will be readily understood and further explanation is believed to be unnecessary.

However, since numerous modifications and equivalents will readily occur to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the foregoing specification and accompanying drawings, it is not intended to limit the invention to-the exact construction shown and described, since all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to falling within the scope of the appended claims Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. An idling jet valve attachment for an internal combustion engine having a carburetor,

an intake manifold, a mixture conduit therebetween having flanged sections, a throttle valve in one of said sections, an idling jet passage having its ends communicating with said mixture conduit in each of said sections, comprising: a body attachable between said flanged sections having a mixture aperture registering with the mixture conduit in each of said sections, inlet and outlet passages in said body having one end registering with the idling jet passage of each section, a control valve in said body for regulating flow between the other ends of said inlet and outlet passages and means responsive to intake manifold suction greater than normal engine running suction for moving said control valve to shut off flow through said inlet and outlet passage, said body comprising a pair of detachable members, said inlet and outlet passages being in different members, registering transverse bores in said members, said control valve being slid- 20 2,212,936

able in said bores.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein one of said members has a chamber exteriorly thereof and communicating with one of said inlet and outlet passages, a cover for said chamber, a diaphragm secured between said cover and said one member, said diaphragm bein secured on one side to said control valve and on the other side being connected to said intake manifold.

LEONARD S. TROY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,956,992 Mallory May 1, 1934 Hoof Aug. 27, 1940 2,214,964 Leibing Sept. 17, 1940 

